


Rumbelle Reunion, Angry Kisses

by themonstersweaknesses



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 18:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1356847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themonstersweaknesses/pseuds/themonstersweaknesses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle isn't so eager to forget the pain of their past when they reunite in A Land Without Magic</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rumbelle Reunion, Angry Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Once Upon A Time.  
> Rumbelle Secret Santa for mymostpreciouslife

He could feel her eyes trained on his back as they made their way through the woods on the outskirts of town. Her beautiful eyes, ice blue, but warm at the same time, so very full of life. Deep down, Rumpelstiltskin knew that this woman who appeared in his shop just minutes before was not his Belle, not his true love. She had no memory of the times they had shared in the Dark Castle. She had not sacrificed herself to save her village. She was but an image, an echo, mimicking her former self.

But she didn’t have to be. If Emma could break the curse, his Belle would remember. She would remember their chipped cup. She would remember falling into his arms. She would remember him giving her a rose. And she would love him. She would love him just as she had before. His heart beat wildly in his chest as he recalled their kiss. Her soft lips fitting with his rougher ones, tentative and sweet and true… He shook his head slightly to clear his mind of the bittersweet memory. Yes, he decided. As soon as he brought magic to Storybrooke, he would find the savior and do whatever he could to assist her in the breaking of the curse. The Beast and his Beauty would be together again at last.

“Wait.” the voice from behind him was small yet insistent, piercing his thoughts and pulling him back to the present. He had to fight every instinct in his body to keep himself from turning to gaze at her.

“No, no. We’re very close,” Rumpelstiltskin responded, refusing to turn to her. This woman behind him was not his Belle, not yet. He couldn’t risk slipping up before she remembered.

“Rumplestiltskin,” her voice came again, wavering slightly. “Wait.”

He froze. Eyes widening, breath faltering, the corners of his mouth fighting to rise into a smile. She was here. She remembered. She was his Belle. After decades of being alone, of missing her, she was back.

He turned slowly, carefully, a smile clambering for control of his angular features. “You remember,” Rumple stated simply, his words drenched with hopefulness and just a little doubt.

“I remember,” she agreed, stepping nearer to him.

“Oh, Belle,” Rumpelstiltskin sighed, opening his arms to her, pulling her in for an embrace, “my darling Belle.”

“I remember,” she repeated with her eyes trained intently on the leaf-littered ground beneath their feet. Pressing her palms into his chest, her arms straight out in front of her, keeping him at arm’s length, she raised her eyes to meet his.

As soon as he caught glimpse of her face, Rumpelstiltskin’s smile faltered, then disappeared completely. The pain in her normally joyous eyes made his brow furrow in concern. “Belle?” he asked, his voice thick with worry, “what’s wrong?”

“I remember,” she stated, her voice starting low, but raising as she spoke. “You threw me out! You had my love! You were happy! But you threw me out because you’re too much of a coward!” She knocked his arms away with her own. Stepping back, she stared at him fiercely and he could see her anger rising.

“Belle, wait-“

“Do you remember what you said to me?! You told me I wasn’t as important to you as your power. Your power! Do you have any idea what that means to me?! I loved you, Rumpelstiltskin, and as far as I could tell you loved me too. But what do you do? You knock me aside because of your goddamned power!” Her face was flushed red with anger.

“Belle. Belle, please!” he begged, his brown eyes pleading with her blue ones.

“No!” she shouted, her voice beginning to shake with emotion. “Is it really that hard for you to see that someone might actually love you?! Is that your problem?!”

“Yeah! You know what? Maybe that is my problem!” Rumpelstiltskin shot back. “Maybe I just pay too much attention to the fact that nobody can love a coward! Did I ever tell you about my wife? The one I lost? Well I didn’t lose her, Belle! She left me! She left me for another man because I’m too much of a goddamned coward!” Belle opened her mouth to retort, but he cut her off. “What the hell was I supposed to think when you came along? Was I just supposed to fall into your arms and completely ignore everything I had gone through?” He stepped forward, closing the gap between them until his face was but inches from hers. “I tried, Belle! I tried to block you out, I tried to build walls, but I fell for you anyway! Not one stupid day goes by that I don’t think about you and your stupid laugh and stupid eyes and your stupid chipped cup! I kept the cup, Belle! I kept it all this time because I’m still in love with you! And I hate that! I hate that I still need you because I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it! But you’re right,” he said, his voice slowed, deepening, his words dripping with sarcasm, “my power is obviously more important than—“

He was cut off by soft lips crashing into rougher ones. Raised up on her tiptoes, Belle kissed him desperately, wrapping her arms around his neck, one hand tangling in his hair. Rumpelstiltskin stumbled backwards, startled. His eyes were wide with shock, but he did not pull away. It took him a moment to react, and when he did, leaning into her and beginning to kiss her back with a certain ferocity, she broke the kiss, making him groan in annoyance at the loss of contact.

“You kept it?” Belle asked him a little breathlessly. “You kept the chipped cup?”

“Of course I kept it, Belle!” Rumple countered, a level of irritation still remaining in his voice from their row just moments ago. “How could I not?”

“I just thought…” she began after a brief hesitation, her hands falling to her sides. “I just thought that since you threw me out…”

This time it was he who cut her off, one hand splayed over her back, the other holding the side of her face, his lips covering hers. Wasting no time, she sank immediately into the kiss, her hands finding themselves again in his hair and on the back of his neck. As she pulled herself flush against his body, she practically felt his scent surrounding her. He smelled vaguely of leather, but more strongly of spices and wood smoke and she wished she could bottle it and keep it forever.

After some time, they pulled apart, both gasping for breath. Belle smiled up at Rumpelstiltskin, her breathing heavy and all traces of anger gone from her eyes. He kept a firm yet gentle hold on her, as though he was worried she would try to turn and run. He had one hand on her waist, the other between her shoulder blades, playing absent-mindedly with loose strands of her chestnut curls. Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes, sighing deeply, trying desperately to hold on to her scent, roses and rainwater and old books.

He was brought back to the present, opening his eyes as he felt his suit jacket crumple as she fisted the rich material on the right side of his chest. Belle’s eyes were suddenly serious; her sharp blue eyes gazed intently into his deep brown ones. “Don’t push me away again, Rumple,” she stated, her voice painfully somber. “I’m not sure I would be able to handle that again.” The words were etched with pain, but the anger from earlier had not returned.

Her statement made his heart ache, made him afraid, made him want to flee. But he didn’t. Instead, the Beast pulled his Beauty closer, pressed a chaste kiss into her soft hair, and said, his voice soft and kind and completely sincere “I won’t, Belle, sweetheart. I promise.”

He could feel her smile from where her head rested against his chest. Her voice, when it finally fame, was quiet, but full of certainty. “I love you.”

“Yes,” Rumpelstiltskin responded, sweet resignation rippling through his tone. “Yes, and I love you too.”


End file.
